Corporate Counsel (Dallas preferred)

Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits • Dallas • 3h ago

What You Need To Know

Shape a remarkable future with us. Build a career working for an industry leader that truly invests in their people – and equips them with leading technology, continuous learning, and the ability to bring their best selves to work. As the preeminent wine and spirits distributor, Southern Glazer’s isn't just one of Forbes’ Top Private Companies; it's a family-owned business with deep roots dating back to 1933.

Southern Glazer’s is proud of its well-earned positive reputation, continually achieving accolades for our outstanding workplace culture. We take pride in creating a culture where our people are valued, supported, and provided opportunities for growth and belonging.

As a full-time employee, you can choose from a wide-ranging menu of our Top Shelf Benefits, including comprehensive medical and prescription drug coverage, dental and vision plans, tax-saving Flexible Spending Accounts, disability coverage, life insurance plans, and a 401(k) plan. We also offer tuition assistance, a wellness program, parental leave, vacation accrual, paid sick leave, and more.

By joining Southern Glazer’s, you would be part of a team that values excellence, innovation, and community. This is more than just a job – it's an opportunity to build the future of beverage distribution and grow with a company that truly cares about its people.

Overview

The Counsel role is an individual contributor attorney position responsible for providing legal support within a defined practice area. This role manages a range of simple to moderately complex legal matters and contributes to more complex initiatives under limited supervision. Counsel attorneys are expected to develop sound judgment, client facing skills, and subject matter proficiency.

Role Scope and Decision Authority
• Independently manages simple and moderate legal matters.
• Exercises professional judgment within established legal and business frameworks.
• Escalates significant legal risk, novel issues, or strategic decisions to senior leadership.

Reporting and Collaboration
• Reports to a Vice President or Senior Vice President within the Legal Department.
• Collaborates with business partners, paralegals, and cross functional teams.

Primary Responsibilities

• Draft, review, and negotiate a broad range of vendor‑side commercial agreements, including technology, SaaS, professional services, operations, logistics, procurement, and support agreements, under supervision appropriate to experience level.
• Ensure contracts appropriately address commercial terms, risk allocation, indemnities, limitation of liability, confidentiality, data protection, termination, and compliance obligations.
• Apply practical, business‑focused judgment to recommend risk‑appropriate solutions aligned with company policies and risk tolerance.
• Escalate complex, novel, or high‑exposure issues to senior counsel with clear analysis and recommended options as necessary.
• Partner with Procurement, IT, Operations, Finance, Compliance, and Business Owners to support contract negotiations and deal execution.
• Support the end‑to‑end contract lifecycle, including intake, review, negotiation, approval, execution, and post‑execution management.
• Ensure contracts are accurately tracked and maintained in contract lifecycle management (CLM) and matter management systems.
• Assist in maintaining and improving contract templates, clause libraries, and negotiation playbooks.
• Conduct legal research on issues related to commercial contracting, technology transactions, data privacy, and operational risk, as needed to support contract reviews.
• Contribute to process improvements aimed at increasing contracting efficiency while maintaining appropriate risk controls.
• Build increasing subject‑matter familiarity in technology and operational contracting, demonstrating progressive independence over time.

Additional Primary Responsibilities

Core Responsibilities
• Provide legal advice and support within assigned practice area.
• Manage assigned matters with increasing independence.
• Support compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and company policies.
• Partner with internal stakeholders to address legal issues.
• Perform other job-related duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

• Juris Doctor (JD) from an accredited law school.
• Active bar membership in at least one U.S. jurisdiction.
• 2–6 years of relevant legal experience.

Physical Demands

• Prolonged periods of sitting and computer use.
• Occasional standing, walking, bending, or lifting up to 15lbs.

EEO Statement

Southern Glazer's Wine and Spirits, an Affirmative Action/EEO employer, prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type and provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training. SGWS complies with all federal, state and local laws concerning consideration of a qualified applicant's arrest and/or criminal conviction records. Southern Glazer's Wine and Spirits provides competitive compensation based on estimated performance level consistent with the past relevant experience, knowledge, skills, abilities and education of employees. Unless otherwise expressly stated, any pay ranges posted here are estimates from outside of Southern Glazer's Wine and Spirits and do not reflect Southern Glazer's pay bands or ranges.

If you have any questions or concerns about whether this posting complies/adheres with local pay transparency requirements, please contact the SGWS talent acquisition team at NationalTA@sgws.com